Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Receives Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $3,850.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

BKNG has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. They issued an outperform rating and a $4,150.00 target price on the stock. Edward Jones reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 16th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a buy rating and a $4,400.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Booking from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $3,723.41.

Booking Stock Down 1.8 %

BKNG stock opened at $3,452.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $117.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. Booking has a twelve month low of $2,456.93 and a twelve month high of $3,918.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3,538.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3,394.91.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $24.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking will post 176.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 29.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $756,027.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $756,027.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total value of $2,650,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,318,211.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,742,160,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Booking by 2,479.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $414,234,000 after acquiring an additional 112,249 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $401,371,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,774,850,000. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $220,080,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.